Morning journal and courier., 1887-10-10

belief which the spirit of the Lord may have
raised before the thought of a generation.
The practical problem is whether under our
polity and by the customary
agencies of our Congregational churches any
way can be found by mutual agreement and
mutual liberation in which our churches and
our ministers can live and work together
in preaching the gospel of our common
master, and in saving the world from it's sin.
This is not altogether new problem in the
religious history of New England. 1t has
been raised more than once among us, and
each time it has been raised the final answer
from the Lord has been: Not more division
and more strife, but more comprehension,
more Christianity and more peace. And
each time this chapter of religious history has
to be learned over again it takes less and
less effort for Congregationalism to get to
the end of the lesson.
come now to the third question suggested:
What ground for the settlement of this prob
lem was gained at Springfield?
We cannot give true answer to this inquiry
concerning any passing events in which we
may be deeply interested, or in which we
may ourselves be actors, unless we put the
excitements of the hour far from us, forget
its disappointments or its victories, and with
such wisdom as we may find seek to view the
present as a moment and part of one contiu-
uous order and progress of the kingdom of
God on earth. 1t would be presumption for
any man to declare his private Interpretation
as the word of the Lord in the course of
human events, yet he will be both the hun
blest and truest interpreter of the signs of
his times who brings to their understanding
the most of the historic sense, and whose
faith in God keeps his own eye luminous
with hope, whatever passing shadows may
fall upon the ways of providence before him.
One historic law of providence seems to
me certain and clear. find a strong state
ment of it in an epistle of ST. Paul. First,
there must be a revealing of the man of sin,
then the destruction of it in the brightness of
the coming of Christ. This has been the law
in all moral reforms. What Is evil
in any idea or in any institution must come
to revelation before it can be removed. All
progress repeats this two-fold process, first
the disclosure of an evil, then its removal.
And consequently the darkest hour for any
reform is often necessarily the hour before
its triumph, Necessarily, remark, because
when an evil has grown and gathered strength
unobserved in some cherished custom or hon
ored institution the time of its discovery is al
WAYS q sad hour, an hour of humiliation to
the church and even of ridicule and contempt
from the world. But such humiliation lies
in the divine order of human progress. One
illustration of this law and process of prog
ress is familiar to US in the history of the
conflict. We remember
how the evil thing which our fathers had
appalling disclosure of itself; yet the hour of
storm and darkness WIS the hour in which
the divine providence was gathering above
the beams of q day to dawn of life and
liberty for new nation. We never, there
fore, should be discouraged; we should re-
joice especially in the Lord, when anything
which is wrong comes to revelation, even
though the discovery of it may lead us to
bow our heads in shame.
If you ask me now what has been gained
by the seemingly disappointing meeting at
Springfield, and its depressing emphasis of
answer at once, and without
that great deal has been gained.
I came home from that meeting with strong
er and more confident conviction that behind
this little cloud of the moment there is to be re-
vealed some 1eTge and luminous grace of God.
And it seems to me that the providence of
using men even beyond their knowledge
as its instrumentalit holds our present
problem " til sure grasp in its hand, and Is
already accomplishing the first work uecessa-
ry for thorough reconstruction and peace.
NV reason for this hope which is in me-and
it seems to me an ample reason-is the record
of what has been done at Springfield. That
record brings to revelation, SO that all men
may see it who will, as no words or work of
ours who for these past years have been COM
pelIed to see and own it could have brought
to revelation the real evil, the malady which
must be cured, in the constitution of the
American board. That record is the revela-
lion to the world of the wrong which has
cost us the loss of scores of our most promis-
ing young men from the missionary service,
and which to day is said by those in a posi-
lion to know to be costing our missions in
Japan the loss of some fifty consecrated
young women from the graduates and the
pupils of the single college of Wellesley.
That record places before the eyes
IF the world, for the derision
and moekely, if they please, of
the ungodly, that record lays upon the heart
Of our Cong regational churches for our con-
tession humiliation and prayer, the long
in the organization and the conduct of our
own cherished missionalJ board. The
wrong which must be owned and destroyed
If our foreign missions are to be sustained
and increased. Let me refer once more to
the record, painful though it be, yet before
doing SO let me say to the children and to
the babes in Chlist here that ouch things as
these do not belong to the simple religion of
our divine master, but that they belong to
our human sinfulness and shame. The evil
in the constitution of the American board is
that it is possible for it to become the agency
Of party for such puIt oses as they may be
pleased to employ it, and that it is not SO or
as to be the representative of the
churches. The wrong which he's been
brought to light is thar the American board
has at last been possessed and used by par
by, and that any party once gaining ascend
ency in the board by the use of the ma
shinery of the board can keep itself in power
Of what use it may well be
asked is any discussion of the principles or
methods of the administration of the board
If under its rales it is POI sible during the
discussion for new members to be created
BY the majority and their votes
,ollecteds I am not speaking now of men or
Of motives. I have learned that the apology
which Dr. johnson gave for mistake in his
dictionary covers a multitude of sins.
Ignorance, madam, pure ignorance"
Far be it from me to iplpute even indirectly
my conscious or Intentional evil to fathers in
,he ministry, some of whom when was yet
/ little child 1 was taught to revere. But I
I'm pointing out by the record the evil thing
which has now come to revelation in the or
yanization of our Amer lean board.
Many years ago secretary of the board In
letter explaining its constitution wrote as
ollows:
labit and model its entire system of opera
ions before it could pursue course which would
as it stood from party belonging to none, claimed
y none employed by none 1t makes no appeal to
ectarian or party feelings"
All! but that honored secretary had not
iyed unto these degenerate times to receive a
ard of admission to a caucus of the friends
f the board in a church at Springfield.
'Aloof from party, belonging to none, claimed
" none, employed by none"-that was the |
Id American board which our fathers found |
d, not the new-modeled American board
which we saw upon the platform at Spring
ield. |
This revolution in the whole spirit and |
Method of the board has taken place and it |
las become possible for it to take place be- |
ause the constitution of the board removes |
from direct relation and direct responsible |
ty to the churches. Our Congregational |
hurches support it, but they are not repre- |
ented in or by it. For example, there are |
hIee churches in Massachusetts whose united /
amount to more than the con-
rihutions in total of eight western States and /
o nearly three times the contributions of the /
7hole State of Illinois. But the known wishes /
f these contributors have no influence in de-
ermining the policy of the board, and it is
oubtful whether under the doctrinal tests
ow exaeted by the board the pastors of these
Influential and liberal churches could
Q permitted to preach the Cos
ell in heather lands. Ours is
indeed voluntary tax which has thus far
cen lovingly and loyalty paid into the treas
ry of the board; but we have como to
oint where we cannot submit in matters &C.
Iesiastical to the principle which in civil af-